Getting ‘Lucky’ at Pop Burger

The week of office holiday parties continues on, and we are fully into magazine territory. Last night saw fêtes for Allure at Socialista, Portfolio at Runway, and both Lucky and (maybe) Star at Pop Burger Midtown. We stopped by the last two, so you didn’t have to. Though, really, shouldn’t you be investing in your co-workers this holiday season? A little face time at the company bash might just make those quietly awkward office urinal moments a little more cheery for the rest of nextyear!

Lucky Magazine. We weren’t sure what to expect when we went to midtown to crash the Lucky holiday party. For one, it was on the second floor at Pop Burger (yeah, that’s right, it’s a three-story club) and we weren’t sure we’d get in. And for another, we weren’t sure that sending a six-foot-three man to blend in with a bunch of tiny fashionistas was the bestplan.

But crash we did, and we were rewarded by one of the most fun office parties yet. We arrived around 6:45 to find a horde of well-dressed young ladies (and seven gay men) already bopping to Christmas tunes spun by the D.J. In the front room, a group of twentysomething gals were singing along to WHAM’s Last Christmas. The bartenders were pouring any kind of drink you liked (including bottles upon bottles of Veuve Clicquot — not too shabby!), and waiters were passing around trays of hors d’oeuvre like fried chicken wraps and delicious Pop Burgers. When Mariah Carey’s anthem “All I Want for Christmas Is You” came on, the dancing began in one corner. “I thought this party started at six,” said one well-heeled editor, looking at the dancers and then her watch. It was seven. “When did they start drinking?” When the boys in the group started trying to hit Mariah Carey’s whistle notes, we fled to the back room where editor Kim France was holding court. Realizing, at this point, that we were an entire head taller than everyone else in the crowd, we decided it was time tobolt.

Verdict: Food: 5 (the burgers were excellently crunchy and well sauced); drink: 4; venue: 4 (quite nice but a little midtown-y); debauchery: 3; exclusivity: 4 (we had to engage in brief subterfuge to get past the doorgirl).

Star Magazine. After Lucky, we took a drink and sneaked upstairs to “The Den,” Pop Burger’s billiards lounge. We were told that it was occupied by the Star holiday party, but to tell you the truth, we weren’t sure who the hell those people were. It was a very small, quiet and sedate group, and we spotted no Bonnie Fuller or Julia Allison or anybody. So we’ll refrain from rating this one and just say, whoever you people were, thanks for the cocktail and for chrissakes, liven up abit.